(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yeah, I didn't get it in the WhatsApp group. So I... They did one also? Normally he does, but I did not get an update for yesterday's group. So did he... Okay. Okay. Alright, perfect. Thank you for letting me know. Thank you. Alright. And did I miss anyone else? Very good. Alright, well keep up the good work. And our crazy weather. Sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's rainy. Sometimes, you know, you never know what we're going to get. Either way, we're going to go out there and knock on those doors. So appreciate all the faithfulness here. We've got the offering totals listed down there at the bottom of the page. As I mentioned earlier this morning, I will be giving out giving statements next week. There's a few people who have given online as well as in-person. So normally what I do, people who have been giving online solely will receive a different type of a giving statement that's emailed through that provider. And those who give here in-person will get a response to that. So that's the important thing. So you know, if you're in a situation where you're giving out a giving statement, you're not going to get a response. So it's going to be a response. So it's not just a response. in person will get a giving statement. So if you've done both, I'm going to try to compile it all into one for you. So you have it all in one place and you don't have to rely on both. You may get the digital one if you've given online because I need to go through it and see how easy it is. I might just send it out to everybody, in which case you may get one that won't necessarily be complete if you've also given in person. But you can expect to have that by next Sunday. Prayer requests, continue to please pray for everyone on the list. We have a few additions you can see there near the bottom, Gary Gordon and Maverick has been on there. Mrs. Michael, please look at those. Pray for everyone on our list here and then on the next page, there's a little picture of baby Hannah and she was born in January. You can see all of the stats there for the newest addition to the Logan family. It was praise the Lord for the safe, healthy delivery of that child. January is the Bible reading challenge, so not much more. We've got a little over a week left of this challenge. Who's going to complete this? Yeah. All right. Keep working on it and stay faithful. Get it done. You still got time. Don't get discouraged if you've gotten a little bit behind, just stick with it and we'll get it done. Ministry luncheon schedule is listed there. So as I mentioned this morning, if you plan on attending any of these in the future, if you missed today's and you wanted to know more about being an usher, you can speak to me. I'm more than happy any week to be able to talk to you about that. Brother Carter, I'll talk to you later on. Not a big deal. You've been through this before, but I'll update you on what we were doing this afternoon. In general, these lunches, we may go out or I think we may bring some food in, depending on how many people are going to be attending. So I think the music will probably have more people and families. So we might bring some food here instead of going out to eat. Because I really want to try to get everything done in time to go sowing, so at 1.30. So I'm trying to manage everything on these luncheons. If you're interested in sound and live stream help, we have two people that are helping us with that right now. It would be nice to have at least one more. Anyone who's interested in that can join us next week. We will be going out for that. All of these were designed to not have as many people out as possible. Everything takes longer when we go out to eat. So if possible, if you plan on going to any of these, the design and the plan was just for whoever is specifically going to be involved in the ministry to go to the lunch. But if that's not possible for any reason, that's fine. I don't want people to not come because of that. But if you're coming, I want you to be prepared so that I don't want everybody's whole family going out. Just in general, it's going to make it a lot easier and quicker and more efficient if we just don't have as many people out for the lunches because of trying to get everything done in short amount of time. So try to prepare for that if you plan on going to any of these lunches. Appreciate everyone who's volunteering too, by the way, I really do. You could be interested in more than one and come to more than one event. This is great. I'm just giving out all the information. Just so you're aware at the end of the day what's going to happen. These are volunteer. First and foremost, you volunteer to do this stuff. These are all unpaid. Of course, it's all voluntary. But at the end of the day though, I am going to choose who is going to be then at each position, who's going to be participating in these. So it's going to be very clear. I'm going to be waiting for some of these to see what all the interest is. Because as I administer all the different tasks that need to be done, I want to see what the overall interest level is. Some people are interested in more than one thing, but I want to make sure that all of our needs are met fully and to the best capacity. So some people are only going to be available at some time versus others. The goal with having all these meetings and is to be able to figure out who's willing, who wants to do the work, and then try to fit people where they're going to be the most useful for the church. So that's the plan with that. There's things changes. So for everybody who's been involved already, there may not be a lot of changes, but everything has changed at least a little bit. Every job, every function is going to have some updates. So even if you've been doing this for a long time, like our ushers or sound guys, I still want to go through everything because we've been going through a lot of changes as we've been growing, and we're continuing to try to improve on things. So everything is specifically targeted for each of these luncheons, and you're going to have materials to receive and to review, and to make sure that we're all on board on the same page with the direction that we're taking in every single one of these ministries. So I appreciate everyone who is able to attend any of these. If you miss one for any reason, you plan coming, you miss it, it's fine. Let me know and I will get all the information to you. So we're looking forward to how the rest of these going to pan out. The camping trip, before I know this is out of line here, I've got the sign-up sheets. It's in my office right now. Actually, just as soon as I'm done with the notes, I'm going to go out, I'll bring it and put it over here. The most important one right now is just the sign-up sheet if you plan on attending. So letting me know that your family, yes, we plan on going May 1st through the 6th. Please let me know about that first. I also have the other sign-up sheet that has a few other things on there for volunteer, for like passers lunches and things like that, the meals and some of the other tasks that go along with the whole camp. I'll have that as well. We're going to change it up though. We're not going to do anything on Monday. Monday is not going to be a preaching day. It's going to be a setup day. It's just I think with everything that we've done so far with the camp, it gets stressful and hectic and people are showing up at different times, and we got to handle sometimes different things with the camp and with the people getting all the reservations squared away and signing into the cottage, all kinds of stuff going on on Monday. So it's not the best day. That's usually when I would preach because I try to take the worst day for the trip and let everybody be able to enjoy all the rest of the preaching. But it gets to be too difficult. So we're not going to plan really events for that first day, for that Monday. Monday is going to be a total camp setup type of a day, and then we'll go full swing into the rest of the camp for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So that's one minor change that we're going to have for the trip. Then let's see here, continue on Bible memory passage, Hebrews Chapter 6. If you could memorize all of this chapter and quote it out loud to someone else without making any errors and you'll be able to earn a special prize for being able to do that. On the back, we've got the birthdays and anniversaries. We're already saying the brother Josh this morning, and the upcoming events are listed there, and that is about it for announcements. I'm trying to think if there's anything else. I don't think there is. So I'm going to pass service back over to Brother Peter. First Timothy 6. All right church, we've got the hymnal of Psalm number 31. Psalm number 31, He Lives. He lives down there by Psalm. Psalm number 31. All right church, let's sing the psalm in the first. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. In all the world around me, I see his love in view. And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair. I know that he is leading all the stormy paths. The day of his appearing will come at last. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. On the last rejoice, rejoice, oh greatest gem, lift up your voice and sing. It's eternal hallelujah, Jesus Christ the King. The Lord, the one who sings in the help of all the kind. The Lord is so loving, so good and kind. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Great job, church. It's now looks like there's Sunday night offering. I'd like to ask the ushers to go collect the plates. The church, while the offering plates are being passed around, you can open up your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 6. And as we do customary here at Strouhal Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter. I'd like to ask Brother Devin if he can please do that for us. That was 1 Timothy, chapter 6. That as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. That as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O men of God, flee these things, and fall after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereinto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebucible until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for this time to come together to hear your word preached. I pray that you would be with pastor as he comes and fill him with your spirit, Lord. Thank you for all the souls that were saved today, and I pray that you would just help minimize our service with distractions and help us all to focus on what's being preached and taught this evening. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right. This evening, I want to preach a sermon on managing your money. I don't really do too many sermons on money, but it kind of came up in our Bible study on Wednesday nights, and I figured why not continue to touch on this a little bit. Often when I preach on managing your money, this has more to do with just how to deal with the resources that God has blessed you with in this life. We're going to look at different scriptures here, and I completely believe that we can be very reasonable in making determinations on how we ought to handle our money. I mean, let's face it, we all have to deal with money, right? And the Bible is the answer for everything. So whether God has blessed you a lot or little, like the apostle Paul said, you know, I know both how to be a base, I know how to abound, right? In all things that we have, we need to learn contentment. And when it comes to dealing with money in general, money is just an object, money is just a thing. Okay, money is a tool, there's a lot of things that money can be used for, but deciding what we do with our money, we want to make sure we're doing the right thing and using biblical principles and going to the Bible to seek, hey, what can we do, one, to not get ourselves into a big mess and not to cause any further problems for us in this life. And we start off here in 1 Timothy chapter 6 because I think it's also important that we just have the right mindset about money just from the onset of this. I don't preach a whole lot about money. Even though it is a daily part of our life, it's not the focus of Christianity. It's, you know, like our physical wealth and physical goods is not what our focus is in this life. It's not that important overall. The most important things are our service to the Lord, our spiritual wealth and well-being, and laying up ourselves treasures in heaven. And we're going to get to some of that. However, we still are stuck with, you know, what do I do with the money I have? What am I supposed to do with it, right? So hopefully going through some of this can help and help answer some questions and maybe give you some confidence. I'm going to go into the reasoning where there's, you know, in some cases there should be some explicit instruction from the Bible. In other cases we have to apply principles. We have to apply just what is sense going to dictate to us based off of these other, all of these passages and what the Bible has been teaching us to be able to understand how we should move forward with things. So we saw in I Timothy 6, just to understand this point and make this very clear from the very beginning. Look at verse number 6, the Bible says, But godliness with contentment is great gain. So gain isn't getting a lot of money. Gain is having godliness with contentment, just being satisfied, content, just okay with what you have, where you're at in life, whatever God bless you with, I am content. That is great gain. That is of great value to just be content with the things that God has blessed you with. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Okay, you came into this world with zero on your bank account and you're leaving with whatever that is on your bank account, you're not taking that with you. Okay, that's a certainty. Your Chase or Wells Fargo or Bank of America, whatever you have here, whatever is sitting in the vault, when you breathe your last breath, you're not doing a wireless transfer, no wire transfers, no ACH, you're not getting any Venmos, you're not getting PayPal, that's done. You don't get that when you go to heaven. It's just gone for you, okay, it's gone. It's going to be left to whoever after the fact, okay. So this is a certainty we know. Let's look at verse 8. And having food in raiment, let us be there with content. That word raiment just means clothing. So hey, if you have food and clothing, the Bible is teaching very clearly, be content, be satisfied. And I can go on and on just on this one aspect of the covetous world that we live in today, especially the United States of America, with how much you are marketed to and just the mindset of wanting to have everything and the entitlement attitude and all that goes along with it. Okay, I could, I mean, I'm fighting back the urge to just preach for an hour on that one subject alone because it's so pervasive, because it's so damaging, because it's so anti-Christ in its teaching and its belief and what it's going to do to your family, you need to learn to be content with your food and clothing. I mean, we're starting with this because as we continue to talk about money, don't lose sight of what the, like, this is the most important teaching. Just be satisfied with what you have. Be satisfied with food and clothing. Okay, what I'm going to be dealing with is with the extra blessings that God may have bestowed upon you. What's the right thing to do with that? Okay, we'll get to that, but first, just understand, no matter what happens to that, no matter what you end up doing, you just better be satisfied and you better be content. That is primary. This is number one. And this teaching is prevalent all throughout the scripture. Okay, this is way more important. But they that will be rich, verse nine, and will there doesn't mean you're going to be, it means you want to be. Whether you actually achieve riches or not, because the problem is those that want to be rich are never going to be rich in their own mind anyways because they're never going to be satisfied. It's never enough. People want to be rich. It's this empty void, this hole that you keep on trying to pour money into and it never is enough. But this says, but they that will be rich fall, not they might fall, not maybe, fall, into temptation and a snare, a snare is a trap, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts. So that one lust of desiring to have a bunch of money leads to many foolish and hurtful lusts, not just the love of money, but it turns you into a covetous person that goes beyond just having money. It could be power, it could be men or women or people, like just going on into all manner of lusts. It could be going into substances, drugs, alcohol, whatever, you name it. People who just focus on making money and just wanting to be all about money, it's going to lead you down to other foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Now, it doesn't say money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money is the root of all evil. And that's a fact because I'm going to be teaching what to do with your money from a biblical standpoint, what's acceptable, what's not acceptable, what could be considered a sin and what's not sinful. Now, we ought to be wise with what God has given us. We ought not to be wasteful. We ought not to just disregard anything that God has given you, any blessing you have. I believe that we ought to be a good steward with what we have. And I'm going to follow that principle as we go through just kind of looking and analyzing and saying, okay, whatever situation we're in, what is the right thing to do? Now, I'm going to start off the bat also just warning you about who you choose to get all of your education from when it comes to handling finances because there's a lot of people that are going to, you know, try to get into the Christian world of your finance management. And there's a lot of people you shouldn't be listening to and getting advice from. And one of the big ones is Dave Ramsey. Now, I'm not going to dedicate this whole sermon to Dave Ramsey. But at the end of the day, okay, there's some things that he teaches that there's nothing wrong with. It's fine, like getting rid of your debt. Yeah, amen, get rid of your debt. Okay, and if you want to do so by making a debt snowball and going after the smaller ones first and keeping, you know, great, okay, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing, you know, earth-shattering or mind-blowing about that concept either. It's pretty basic. You could get that from the Bible that, yeah, you shouldn't be living in debt. Okay, we should as much as possible not be in bondage by being in debt. Now, we live in a debt-based society and most of us probably are in debt. And we ought to strive to get out of that and not to be under that. And, you know, again, I'm also not going to be focusing much on that either. That could be its whole sermon in itself. Avoid debt. That's a wise thing to do for your life. Okay, but here's the problem, one of the problems with Dave Ramsey is that he starts to teach a lot of other things that are not biblical, but he tries to use the Bible to teach things that are just simply not true. I mean, for example, he teaches not to give essentially until you are just completely 100% out of debt. And I don't think that that's always right. I think you need to give. I think you give and be generous anytime you can. Now, you should be focused on getting out of debt. Sure, you should try to do that, but at the same time, it's not like, well, you can never give and you can't do that. There's a lot of things and a lot of principles that he's going to teach you that are not found in the Bible. Okay, and I'm just going to, I didn't prepare a whole sermon against him, but I just want to warn you about it. And if you choose to, you know, when you choose to listen to people, you know, take it with a grain of salt, but he definitely doesn't teach things, you know, when it comes to even just, because he'll start teaching things in the home where it's like he basically is teaching that it should be like this 50-50 thing between a husband and wife, which is not what the Bible teaches when the authority structure is in the home. The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. That's what the Bible says. And what the Bible teaches, that's not what Dave Ramsey teaches. Okay, so, I mean, that's a pretty basic truth of Scripture, but he's going to send your wife off to work. He's going to do all these other things because all he's focused on is money. That's his thing. That's what he cares about. That's the big deal is the money. But that's like one of the, ultimately one of the least important things in this life, and he's dedicated his life to just talking about money. So, you know, you do what you want to do, but I'll just give you a little warning there on how far you want to take things and what you want to do. I mean, getting out of debt, okay, there you go, right? Make sure you're not spending more than you make. There's another huge mind-blowing truth that you ought to follow, okay, that he'll also teach you. But as we go into this, okay, understand first contentment, right? I'm done with that. I just want to throw that out there. Number two, money does serve a purpose, okay? And if you turn to Ecclesiastes 7, it's a carnal thing. It serves a carnal purpose. And we ought to just respect the dealing of our finances and how we ought to deal with it. Ecclesiastes 7, we're going to look at verse number 11 and 12. The Bible reads, Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense. But the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. So he's kind of putting wisdom and money side by side here and he's saying, you know what, wisdom is a defense and money is a defense. And those are both true statements, right? Money is a defense. Money can help be a defense against things to come and bad things against you if you have money that can help, you know, get rid of some problems potentially. But when you compare that to wisdom, it says, hey, wisdom is a defense too. You know, being wise and being smart with the decision making is also a way to defend yourself against problems, against snares, against traps. But which one is superior? Wisdom is a defense, money is a defense. But the excellency of knowledge, he's saying, but here's the excellent, you know, when you have that excellent knowledge, is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Money doesn't give you life. Wisdom giveth life. Wisdom's gonna teach you the ways of life and the truth from God's word. So wisdom far exceeds money even when it comes to a defense. Right, you could use money as a defense, but you know what, having that wisdom is obviously much more valuable than the money. But money still is a defense. If you have it, you could still use it for your advantage, for your defense. It still is there. I mean, literally, in a carnal sense, money is a defense like getting a defense team if someone wants to sue you, right? You need money to hire people to defend you. So you could use that money as a defense, but the wisdom will help you out even more than that money will. Now, one more point on the... Sorry if you go to Proverbs 21. One more point on the principle side of things that we use to... that we're gonna have the underlying context here for applying the rest of the truths. As I continue to talk about more in detail on the money side of things, the Bible says in Proverbs 21, 31, the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. So we have this truth, and this is talking just about, you know, like warfare says, hey, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, right? People get your defenses ready. You get your horse ready. You get ready physically, carnally, to go out into battle, but ultimately, safety is of the Lord, right? So we have to understand that, that on the one hand, we don't just say, well, safety is of the Lord, and I don't do anything, right? You still are preparing your horse for the day of battle. You're still getting ready for the fight, but at the end of the day, where is our heart? Where is our trust? It's in the Lord. So we're relying on God for our safety, but in the meantime, we're still doing these other preparations to get ready to go out and fight. It's the same way that, as we're going to see later, we're going to get into the book of Matthew, we're going to see about relying on God ultimately for all of our needs, for all of our physical needs, for our food, for our clothing, and things like that. We trust in the Lord, but that doesn't mean that we don't go out to work and get a job, right? So at the end of the day, I'm going to trust completely in the Lord to take care of me and my family. So when I'm making decisions, like, wow, should we have children or not? Hey, I'm going to trust that God is going to make a way for me to be able to provide for my house, for my family, things like that. But I'm not going to just pull up a chair and be like, well, I just trust God. So what are you going to do today? I think I might just read a book, hang out. Hey, honey, how's it going? Let's turn the TV on. God's going to take care of our needs, right? I'm not mocking faith, don't get me wrong, because we are commanded to go out and work. We're commanded, especially as men, to provide for your own household. But just get the point, we are still trusting in God to provide for us. See, God works together with us in many ways, and God will expect us to do and to work and to do different things, just like you prepare your horse for the battle, but you know what? Ultimately, safety is of the Lord. Ultimately, God's going to either be there for you, or He's not. And He promises to feed you, He promises to clothe you. If you're going to live godly in Christ Jesus, He will definitely take care of you. But it doesn't mean you just forsake doing the things that you still need to do to make the money. Does that make sense? Hopefully, right? It's a pretty simple concept. But I stress it because as we read these passages, we don't want to get too far out onto an extreme where we forget this truth and misapply a passage, forgetting that, well, no, we are still supposed to, like, even though we're relying on the Lord, we still do do these other things. Okay? And there's nothing wrong with that. It's not saying that, you know, oh, well, Pastor Berzins, you just lack faith because you're working a job and getting paid to provide your family. I mean, don't you think that God's going to take care of you? No, it's both. I do know God's going to take care of me. God's already proven He's going to take care of me. But He takes care of me through the means that He already wants me to do. He wants me to go out and work. I mean, those are the means. That's what I do. But then He's there to take care. So hopefully that's clear. Let's keep going here. Turn over, if you would, now to Luke 16. There's a lot to cover. There's a lot of different things about managing your money. You know, not getting into debt is huge. Don't do it. Don't be involved with usury. We're getting charged interest and everything else. That's just going to keep you longer in debt and from being free from that bondage. And that's all I'm going to say because that could be a whole subject in and of itself. There's a lot of different angles you could take with managing your money. Luke 16, verse number 9. The Bible reads, And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful... Now, before I even continue on here, I might have touched on this when I was in Washington last week. I can't remember if I said this here or not. But it's a wise thing to do. It's a wise thing to do. Yeah, it was over there. It's a wise thing to do to make friends. Jesus is saying, Make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. This was at the end of his story about the unjust steward where he had this job, he had this responsibility of being a debt collector, to say, Okay, well, how much does my master owe you? When he realizes he's going to lose his job because he's not doing his job, he's totally unjust. He's not a good employee. But what he does is he's like, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to settle these debts, and they're not going to pay the full amount, but I'm just going to settle them, and I'm going to do them a solid so then they can do me a solid when I lose my job. And then I don't have to worry about having to beg or having to dig ditches or find some other type of work. They'll help me out because I helped them out here. So there's a commendation of the unjust steward because he was able to make that preparation for himself, and then Jesus follows that up with make to yourself. So he's not telling believers to be unjust. He's not telling you to do shady things. He's not telling you to not do your job the way you're supposed to do your job or anything like that. But what he's saying is the way the unjust steward was able to gain these friendships and then be allowed for him to be kind of taken care of by these other people, he's saying, make yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Look, our life isn't going to be about making all this money, but you know what? Other people can, and if you're in good regard or good standing with them, if there's no reason not to be, it's wise to have a friend that then is going to be able to take care of your needs later on, if so be. And you could choose a friend or a neighbor that's close than a brother that's far away, right? You could rely on that, and they can provide that defense for you, and it's a wise thing to be able to have that available because our focus isn't all about the money. So if there's someone else that just has it and you can make yourselves friends with them that's going to be able to help you out, then great, go ahead and do that. Verse 10 says, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, digging into this passage a little bit, the Bible says, you know, it's talking about being faithful in that which is least to prove that you can be faithful in anything, right? So if someone gives you a small task to do, and you're just like, oh, I don't want to do that, or you just fail at the small things, well, why in the world would anyone try to step up your responsibility to be able to have more responsibility? Dude, you couldn't even mop the floor or whatever, you know, like something really small, you know, I told you to do this. If you can't do that, why would I give you more responsibility? This is what's being taught here. And he says, you know, if you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, right, even just with the money handling in the world, if you can't be faithful, if you can't handle that task of just being able to deal with that money, then who's going to commit to your trust the true riches? The mammon isn't the true riches, right? Going back to the just original point, it's not, this life isn't all about money. But we still ought to be able to manage that money, even though it's not the important thing, you still ought to be faithful in dealing with it so that you can be entrusted with dealing with the real riches, with the more important things. Hey, show yourself faithful in the unrighteous mammon. Show yourself able to handle that so that way God can see, okay, well, He knows how to manage this stuff. I'm going to give Him more responsibility now and trust now the true riches to Him since you're able to handle this thing that's really not that big a deal. It's not the true riches, but you're faithful. And He says if you've not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? And most people start off working for other people and you're kind of dealing with other people's substance, other people's resources. If you get employed, you get a job from someone else, you're working for them, that's their capital, that's their business, that's their company, whatever they own, and you're just working for them. And unfortunately, a lot of people will just be like, what do I care? It's not my money. They screw something up on the job, they cause all kinds of costs and problems, and they break things and break forklifts and run into walls and just do whatever and just cause damage and then just have the attitude like, well, whatever, not my money. Well, you know what? Those people aren't going to get anywhere because if you can't be faithful in something that's another man's, no one's going to give you your own. And that's, you know, the Bible's clearly teaching that and that even these smaller things can be a testing ground even in God's eyes to be able to give you access to way more valuable things. So we need to learn to be faithful in all manner of our life. So the faithfulness, even in dealing with the unrighteous mammon, is important. While it's not the true riches, we still should be faithful in dealing with what we have. We should be prudent. We should be wise in what we do with those resources. I know it's not the most important thing, but we still ought to be careful with how we deal with it and not just be flippant and not just be wasteful and not care about it. Well, on the one hand, we don't care as in our heart's not in it, but on the other hand, we should care in just being faithful with what God has given us. Does that make sense? These are the principles that we should be utilizing when we consider what do we do with our money. Flip over, if you would, to... Well, let's see. What do I want to get into? How much time do I have? Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter 12. I do want to go into this. Part of being faithful with what God has given you and being content is the teaching to not go into debt. Because we need to be able to be satisfied with what we have and not feel pressured for any reason to get into debt. Now, there may be circumstances that kind of can come outside of your control, but you got to be real careful on what you allow and what you don't. What, for me, a medical emergency would be a justified cause to go into debt. I mean, we're talking life and health. Like, if that's going to come, you know, if money's going to come in between someone getting the care they need, you know, I'll go into debt for that. Because the life is more valuable than the money and having to work that off and pay that debt off. So I'm not saying there's never a reason to go into debt. And you can maybe add some other things to that, like having a house over your head if you have to go into debt for that, to have a roof. You may not have to, but whatever, right? There's reasons to say you would make an allowance for it. But by and large, we need to try to hold the debt off, stave it off, and learn to save up for the things that we want and the things that we need to do. 2 Kings chapter 12, look at verse number 4. This is in the house of God. So Jehoash wants to repair the house of God. It's important to repair the work, right? But let's see, how does he go about accomplishing this? We're going to see he doesn't just start building right away and going into debt to get the repairs done. Look at verse number 4. And Jehoash said to the priests, all the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the Lord, even the money of everyone that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance, and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found. But it was so that in the 3 and 20th year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. These priests are not being faithful with what the king was commanding to do, and saying, okay, look, all this money that's coming in, make sure you repair the house of the Lord. That's essentially what he's telling them. And then some time passes, and they don't do it. Verse 7, then King Jehoash called for Jehoi to the priests and the other priests, and said unto them, why repair ye not the breaches of the house? Why aren't you doing this? It's not getting done. Boy, that sounds familiar. Now, therefore, receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of your house. So what's happening here is the priests are just receiving the money, and they're not getting the work done, but they're still receiving the money. And he's like, okay, this is going to stop. You're going to stop receiving the money, because I want the repair work done. And then it says in verse 8, and the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. They're like, okay, we're not going to receive any more money, and we're not going to repair the... It's like, what's wrong with you? You've been receiving this money just to get the work done, and now you're just saying, okay, we won't receive any more money. Yeah, how about you give back the money that was supposed to be for the breaches of the house? They're not going to do that either. We're not going to repair it either. That's kind of messed up. But here's what he decides to do. Okay, so that's a sunk cost right there. These guys didn't do what they were supposed to do with it. Verse 9, but Jehoi to the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar. On the right side is one cometh in the house of the Lord, and the priest that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. And it was so when they saw that there was much money in the chest that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and they gave the money being told, told means counted, into the hands of them that did the work that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders that wrought upon the house of the Lord, and to masons and hewers of stone, and on and on and on to repair it. So what they do is they set up these boxes and they lock it, and it's like it just got it's like a piggy bank, right? It's this whole like, OK, you're just going to put the money in. It's going to stay there. And when it gets full, we're going to count it. We're going to empty it and then put it back out again until we have enough money to start getting this work done. And what they do is they use this method of just of saving up the money and putting it somewhere else, putting it in a safe place. This isn't used for your regular funding and regular finances. So like what they're doing is they're just getting this paycheck in the beginning. They're getting a paycheck. They're doing their work. You know, they're not doing the work, but they just keep getting a paycheck, and then they're just spending their money for whatever, right? And then it's like, well, how come this work isn't done? Yeah, we didn't do that work. What about the money I gave you? Yeah, the money's gone. And we didn't do the work. You know, okay, we'll stop receiving the money, but we're not going to do the work. So in order to solve this problem, it's put the money aside and then save it up until you can do what you need to do. So if you have big problems, you know, anything, anything, any purchase that you need to do in your life, don't run out to the credit card. Don't run out and get a loan from the bank. Put the money aside. If you, some of the problems is when people get too much cash influx, you go out and get a loan and you kind of take out extra. What often happens, this doesn't happen every time, but what people can be tempted to do is to just start spending that money on just anything, right? You just end up buying more food, buying more clothes, or you're buying a lot more things that you don't even necessarily need, but you kind of get a little bit extravagant because you have this extra influx of cash. Instead of dealing with it a little bit more wisely, of putting it aside and then getting enough that you need to then be able to do it without having to go into debt, without having to do this, and you get it satisfied. Now, that takes a while, and you don't get instant gratification when you do that. And look, and there may be some instances where, you know, you just kind of have to deal with things before, unfortunately, and maybe even go, you know, if there's a big hole in the house or in the roof and there's just like water coming down and everything's just getting destroyed, you might need to pay at least something to get that patched up before you can do the rest of the repair work. You know what I'm saying. We've got to use common sense with this because, unfortunately, sometimes we get ourselves in situations or situations come up that is outside the ideal circumstance. But when we're looking to the Bible for how to handle our money, this is what's wise, is putting it aside, dealing with it, not tapping into it, and when you have a big project or something that you need or something you need to spend money on, you do it that way instead of going into debt. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25. Now, we're going to read a parable here that's describing the kingdom of heaven. So just right off the bat, I'm going to be clear, you know, this is definitely talking about something that's supposed to be a spiritual application, but we are going to be looking at the carnal application more than the spiritual application, okay. But the spiritual applications come off of truths that are already existing, you know, in the world. So this is one of the reasons why we're going to look at this to continue just applying the principles of how to handle your money and what should be expected of you, how to deal with the things that God has given you. Look at verse number 14 of chapter 25. The Bible says, For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents to another two and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise, he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. This Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee rule over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also had received the two talents, came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee rule over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art in a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went, and hid thy talents in the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reaped where I sowed not, and gathered where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Now, in this parable, this is obviously teaching a spiritual truth of the things that God has given you to be fruitful with, to turn a prophet with, and to actually do something with it. He's talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. He's not, you know, the point of this isn't to teach a carnal teaching. But we can make the application, I believe, to, look, if God has blessed you with stuff, He doesn't necessarily just want you hiding it in the dirt. There's nothing, or at least let me say this, there's nothing wrong with allowing any wealth that God's giving you to produce more wealth. Now, how you do that does matter. For example, you don't want to use your money for, you know, for evil, or, you know, start supporting some, you know, extremely wicked people or companies, and just get, you know, money back for, or even this, how about usury, right? You don't want to lend your money on usury to get an increase off of your money, because the Bible tells you not to do that, right? But there is the concept of expecting there to be a prophet and to be a wise steward with what God's given you, to not just be wasteful with what you have, and not just necessarily hide it in the dirt, but use it. And you could use it for a variety of purposes, but being prepared, you know, like the Bible says, being prepared against a day of battle, being prepared even for trials and tribulations in this life is a wise thing to do. And it's something that we're almost losing sight of with all the modern advances technology that we have. You know, going back in history, people have long understood being prepared for hard times, whether it be, you know, going from having crops and reaping what you've sown and being able to get through the winter and being prepared and ready to go through a long time of not having increase and not being able to continue, there's an element of storing up and being prepared to get through hard times that we would be wise to manage our money similarly. Now, turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 6, because here's where I think you might get the wrong idea of, where we have to learn how to draw the line between, well, wait a minute, when the Bible says to lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth versus being wise because I know I'm going to go through a time where I'm not going to have any increase, we have to draw the distinction to understand what's wise and what's sinful. For example, when Joseph knew that the land, all the land of Canaan was going to go through a severe drought and famine and there was going to be dearth in the land, it was wise to save up and to store the food against the day that was going to come where they weren't going to have any crops, they weren't going to have any produce, and they stored up against that day to be able to allow them to survive because they were able to know in advance, hey, there's hard times ahead. Likewise, people who, you know, would just reap all your crops in the fall and harvest, you're going to ration that out, you're going to save it up, and you're going to keep some tucked away in order to make sure you can get through because it's a wise thing to do, it's a wise thing to do with your money. Let's read Matthew 6 because I just want to make sure that we're clear about this. Look at verse number 19. The Bible says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now, first of all, I do think that it's using that word treasure on purpose, that that word treasure is automatically implying your heart being on whatever it is that you have, that treasure, something that you value on this earth that you are looking to keep this treasure and kind of stockpile it up for yourself as opposed to having a treasure in heaven because it is important. And what's the whole point of not stockpiling? It's so that your heart isn't on the physical carnal stuff because your heart should be on the things of heaven. Going all the way back to the first point, our heart needs to be right. We shouldn't want to be rich. We shouldn't want to desire like all these riches of the world. But if you've been given goods, we should still be wise with those goods. You can still use money as a defense. You can still use what you have to defend against an evil day to come. I can still have money saved up as a defense of, let's say, I lose my job tomorrow. Well, if I have nothing in my bank account, that's not very wise because I could lose my job at any given day, the wise thing would be able to have something there to be able to fall back on for some amount of time. Now, I shouldn't just be focusing my whole life of going, man, I'm just going to amass all this wealth. That's not right. I'm not setting my heart to that, all of my focus, all of my time just spent on gaining wealth. But at the same time, I'm going to be wise with what I have. I'm going to be wise with the decision making that I'm going to do in order to, how about this, not be a burden to other people. We don't want to overburden. Now, we should bear other people's burdens, right, as a Christian, but we also shouldn't be then trying to put our burdens on everyone else. We're supposed to try to be responsible, deal with what we have, and live righteously, and work hard, and be able to support and do all that stuff without having to rely on other people. You know, once in a while, sometimes you do have to rely on other people, and you know what, bless God, bless the people that will help you out with that. But the goal would be to not have to. We want to be able to be generous and give without having to require to have to take from anyone else. I mean, that's kind of what we should be shooting for and striving for in order to do that, we ought to be wise with our finances. You're not just going and just seeking all the money in the world with your heart, but you can be very wise with what you do with that. So that way, if you've been blessed and God's blessed you with a good job, you have this money coming in, you've got five talents, well, you know what, if you're wise, you could turn that five talents into another five talents that can just help support you later on, or help give you more resources to be able to give and do whatever you want with that, and especially use it in a godly way, but in a way that you're not setting your heart on it. Because that is where the biggest sinful part of this comes in, is when you're setting your heart on the physical goods. It's not necessarily what do you specifically do with the money as much as where your heart is. And we'll get to that in a minute. So keep reading here, look at verse number 24, we're going to jump down a little bit. The Bible says, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. We don't serve money, we serve God, but we should still be wise with the mammon, just like you could make yourself friends with the mammon of unrighteousness to help you when you fall, when you fail. Verse 25, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on, is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment. We don't have to fret and worry about these things, we could still trust in God, but you're still going to keep working, right? You don't have to fret and worry, but you can still have something set aside for that problem, for the event that's unexpected and unforeseen, that can be the defense to help you out in that day of trouble. Jump down to verse number 31, the Bible says, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. If your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Now, you can have, potentially, a seeming contradiction here if you're saying, Well, wait a minute, if I'm not supposed to take any thought for the morrow, then what about when Joseph took thought for the next seven years? What's not a contradiction when you're looking at it in context? Okay, what is he trying to get across here in Matthew chapter 6? Your heart not being on that carnal treasure. He's trying to get across to you that you don't need to fret about these things, because if you serve God, God's going to take care of you at the end of the day. But if you have information, if you're wise, and you're going to be wise with your money, you can still do something with that without your heart being affected by it at all. Go, if you would, to Luke chapter 12. This is going to make things even more clear. It's another gospel basically teaching the same thing. Something very similar. Luke chapter 12, verse number 15, the Bible reads, And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. Again, the warning is about covetousness. Consistent throughout the Bible, we definitely want to make sure we're not covetous. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Life is not about things. It's not about money. It's not about the mammon. It's not what it's about. So if you want to make sure you're doing right, make sure your life isn't about those things. Like I said before, we still have to do something with the money we have. Verse 16 says, And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. There we see that word treasure again. This guy's laying up treasure on earth. This is where his heart is. This is where he's working for. This is his idea of heaven is not having to work anymore because I've saved up everything. And now I don't have to do anything. And God's just saying, Okay, you had that all settled, but now you're going to die. And then what's going to happen to your soul? And the teaching here is so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. So can you automatically take this teaching and apply it to someone who is rich towards God? What if someone's been blessed by God and God's blessing them and they decide to just put more stock, you know, add more bigger barns, but they're not living for that and they're living for God and they're rich toward God and that's not their treasure, but their treasure is on the things of God. Is that a sin? And I would say no. No, if God's blessed you and you're being wise with God's given you, but your heart is on the things of God, you're serving God. You're not serving the money, but you just happen to have wealth. That's not a sin. And knowing how to manage that wealth isn't a sin either. There have been plenty of people in the Bible who've had a lot of wealth. Job had tremendous amounts of wealth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all continued to increase their wealth as God blessed them. I mean, they had herds and cattle. Lot had to depart from Abraham because they had so much substance between them that they were starting to fight each other for the resources of the land. They had servants in their houses. I mean, they had employees. They had people working for them, born in their house. All kinds of stuff. All kinds of wealth. They managed their wealth. And there was nothing sinful about that whatsoever. You know, this concept of having to take this vow of poverty of something is nonsense. You don't have to do that to be righteous. But your heart needs to be in the right place. You can't put stock into the finances and into the money and call that your treasure and, oh, man, I'm going to... Look, you don't do that. You don't live for that. That has nothing to do with whether... If that were just to burn up and go away, who cares? That's the mindset you need to have about this stuff, but you can still deal with it wisely. If you have it, do a wise thing. Make a wise choice. And I'm going to say this much. I don't think it's a sin to have a 401K account either. If you have a retirement plan, if you have money saved away for a day that you might not be able to physically work and not have to rely on other people to take care of you. Now, other people are commanded to take care of you. If you have children, they are commanded to by the law to take care of you. But is there anything wrong with a father that doesn't want his children to have to pay for his way when he gets older? There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing sinful with that. If you're wise, if God has blessed you and He's allowed you to be able to get to a certain point, you can have that stuff away for you. Look, if you lost it, it doesn't matter because your heart's still right with God. You're not focused on that. You're not just dependent on and relying on that wealth. You're living righteously. You're living godly. You know that God will supply your need no matter what happens. You can still be wise with what you have. Turn, if you would, to Proverbs 21. Actually, no, turn to Proverbs 13. We'll turn to Proverbs 21 later. We see godly examples, too. How about King David with King Solomon? He was doing as much as he could to help Solomon in his future using his carnal assets. Here, here's wood and here's gold and here's silver. Now, it was to do a good work. It was to serve the Lord with. It was to build the temple with. But he did as much as he could to help his son in the future. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, 22, A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children. A good man does that. If you plan on just being broke, if you haven't done anything with what God's given you and just say, Well, I'll just go broke and whatever. How are you going to leave anything to your children's children? A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. See, God is still always able to take care of anybody in any situation. And especially those that are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness. He'll take care of them and He'll use the sinner's wealth, He'll use their money to go take care and supply that of the saint. But a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children. Turn, if you will, to Proverbs chapter 19. Where is that? How did that not make it into my notes? I'm going to turn. Proverbs 19, look at verse number 14. The Bible says, House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord. The inheritance of, like from, fathers. Houses and riches. There's nothing wrong with having money put aside to help your children in the future. Whether you do that through a 401k account or something else. You can be wise with your money in that regard. 2 Corinthians, I believe it's chapter number 12. Some of us didn't make it into my notes, and it should have. We're going to cover this again in a couple weeks, but I want you to see this as well. I'll read Proverbs 21 for you. While you're turning to 2 Corinthians 12, Proverbs 21 says, There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise. But a foolish man spendeth it up. It's just about being wise with your money. It's not about setting your heart on it. But you be wise with what you have. Make wise choices. In my opinion, you know why I think it's wise to have a 401k account? For me, because my employer gives me money when I put money in there. If I don't put the money in there, I don't get the extra money that's even more that can be paid to me. And I don't need to have what I put in there in order to survive. But it's still compensation. So what's wrong or what's sinful about that? If that account drained tomorrow, I wouldn't care. I'm not using it for anything at the moment. I'm using it as a defense. But you think my money, like my mind is even focused on that? Hey, here today, gone tomorrow, whatever. If I could use a little wisdom and that can earn me, you know, an extra five talents, great. And if not, whatever. Verse number nine. Look at verse number nine. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my affirmities. Wait a second. No, that's not. There. Verse 14. Excuse me. Well, I'll start reading verse 13. For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Now, it's all about being burdensome to them. He's talking about them supplying his needs because he was being supplied by the churches of Macedonia. We already went through this and we're going through this in our Wednesday night Bible study. He's not being burdensome to them, even though he could be. He would be fully in his right to receive their carnal things because he's sowing spiritual things unto them. But he was being supported by other people. And he says, the only thing that, you know, I could have done was been burdensome unto you. Forgive me this wrong. I wasn't burdensome unto you. Right? Verse 14. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours, but you. I'm not looking for your stuff. I care about you. I'm not going to be burdensome to you. I'm not going to be looking for your carnal things to supply my needs. But I care about you. And then he says this, colon, for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. The parents ought to be laying up for the children, not the other way around. Now, the children are commanded to take care of their parents when they get older. Absolutely, it's their duty and their responsibility, God-given. Just as it's the parents' responsibility to care for the children when they're young. God-given. Duty. Responsibility. You're like, you're worse than an infidel if you don't do that. And the same way for the children if they don't care for their own parents when they get older. That's a commandment. That's God's way of dealing with, look, you must take care of these people. That's your family. But when it comes down to doing what's right, he's saying, hey, you know, the children, the parents ought to lay up for the children, not the other way around. You provide for yourself, you provide for your family, and you provide for your children and their well-being and be able to provide for them, if possible, into the future. You don't make that what life is all about. I don't have to spin my wheels going like, oh, man, how can I possibly just make sure I can accumulate all this wealth to give it to my grandkids. No. But if I have, if God's blessed me, you better believe I'm not just going to spend it all and be a fool and just waste everything if I can be wise with some of it to be able to pass down or to be able to be a defense against an evil day. Against a time of trouble. My heart's not set on it, it's not being covetous, but it's being wise. At the end of the day, regardless, I know God will take care of me, but I'm still going to prepare my horse for the day of battle. God's going to take care of my financial needs, he's going to clothe me, he's going to feed me, but you know what, I'm still going to have a little bit something tucked away for the hard times. And that's not my treasure. Because the heart's not on it. Because I can part with it like that, and it doesn't mean a thing. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. But we ought to be wise with how we handle our money. We don't want to go, I think, off the deep end with starting to call people, you know, like, you're in sin because you put some money aside. No, you're not. If your heart's on that and you're covetous and you're focused on all that and that's what your life's about, yes, you are. But if you're being wise with what God's given you, you know, that's not a problem. Because what God was trying to teach is where your heart is. And maybe you can get to a point where you just have so much wealth that you're starting to, you know, that that could be inordinate in itself. I mean, hey, why don't you start giving and, you know, instead of millions of dollars just piled away, thinking like, oh, is my inheritance... Look, an inheritance doesn't need to be some, you know, massive millionaire type of wealth. It's just to be able to pass something on to them. And you can use, also use your money to be able to give and support and do all this other good with what God has blessed you with. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were definitely passing down the family business. At the end of Abraham's life, he wasn't just selling all that he had and then just giving it to some other cause. It was continuing on in his family. Because that's reasonable and rational and that's what would be expected. So to take it any other way, I think, would be misapplying the scripture. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for all the blessings you bestow upon us. I pray that you please help us to be wise in our dealings. We thank you for everything that we have, dear Lord. I could probably feel free to speak of just about everyone in this room. That you've blessed us beyond what you promised us and especially for all of us here that are seeking first the Kingdom of God. We're seeking your righteousness, dear Lord. We want to serve you. Our hearts on the things, on the true treasures we want to lay up for ourselves in heaven. The things that we have here are not our concern so much, dear Lord, but you've definitely blessed us above and beyond what you promised. We have more than just food and clothing, dear Lord. I pray that you please help us all to have a proper heart of contentment with the things that we have. I pray that you please help us to be wise with what you've given us and not to be foolish and not to be wasteful and not to get ourselves into extra problems, dear Lord. But that we could just deal with our finances wisely but not get too distracted by them and not get too distraught over the concerns of this world. But be able to act faithfully, dear Lord. We love you. We thank you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed. Brother Peter, will you please lead us? Alright, church. You can open up your hymnals. The song is 143. The song is 143, a lesson of assurance. The song is 143. Sing us a verse. Praising my Savior, all that they love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all that they love. Perfect salvation, perfect delight. Regents of rapture, a person beside. Angels be saving, bring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all that they love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all that they love. Perfect salvation, always at rest. Lying my Savior, at every last. Watching Him waiting, looking above. Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all that they love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all that they love. Amen, church. Great singing. Thank you so much for coming. Copyright © 2020, New Thinking Allowed Foundation